Free Can't Stand the Heat by Shelly Ellis Page A

their separate ways?
    Cris had been disappointed and angered by the news, but he wasn’t resentful anymore. Besides, his relationship with Alex had been good, but not perfect. She had a fiery temper. Also, she was beautiful and she knew it. Her vanity could get annoying sometimes.
    â€œSo is this the great room?” Jamal asked as they left the corridor and stepped through a doorway. Jamal looked around the cavernous space as they descended a series of steps. “Nice. Very nice, man! I’m diggin’ it.”
    The drywall had been finished days ago, the hardwood floors were almost done, and the timber beams had been installed along the ceiling a week before, giving the room the masculine, rugged feel that Cris wanted. A massive stone hearth stood in the center of the room, giving the space the look of an old Viking hall.
    Cris nodded and smiled as he gazed up at the ceiling. “Yeah, I like it, too. It turned out good, didn’t it?”
    Jamal nodded and nudged his shoulder. “You’re making some progress, Cris! The place looks hot!” He paused. “But you haven’t been cooped up in here every night that you’re in town, right? Have you had a chance to look around Chesterton? Walk around Main Street?”
    â€œYeah, I went out to dinner yesterday. I was going to just pick up something quick, but decided to try one of the restaurants.”
    â€œDid you like the food?”
    â€œOh, yeah,” Cris uttered distractedly as he walked over to the fireplace.
    Among other things, he thought as he ran his palm over the stone.
    For the first time in Cris’s life he had enjoyed a meal so much that he felt compelled to praise the chef personally, and later, he was profoundly glad he had. When he’d wandered into the kitchen looking for the chef at Le Bayou Bleu, he had expected to find one of those beefy Cajun chefs you always see on the food channels. Instead, he found a tiny woman (she didn’t even reach his shoulder) with a sienna-hued face, huge doelike eyes, and delicate hands that looked better fit for playing the piano or the violin than boning fish. She was certainly pretty—even in her stained chef jacket and jeans—but Cris was surprised by his reaction to her. All lingering thoughts of Alex had finally disappeared.
    He had told her that he would come back to the restaurant, and he would, but not just for the food. The petite chef intrigued him. He wanted to know more about her and take it from there.
    â€œCris? Cris!” Jamal cupped his hands around his mouth.
    â€œHuh?” Cris said, suddenly coming out of his daze. He stepped away from the hearth he had been leaning against, lost in thought.
    â€œYou drifted off for a second there, man. You’re thinking about her, aren’t you?”
    Cris did a double take. Am I that obvious?
    â€œYou gotta let her go, man.” Jamal laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. He squeezed it reassuringly. “It’s messed up that Alex didn’t come with you, but I guess she thought it was the best thing for her. You couldn’t force her to come.”
    â€œUh-huh. I know.”
    He didn’t tell Jamal that Alex wasn’t the girl he had on his mind right now. He had only met this Lauren woman yesterday. He didn’t even know her last name. He wasn’t sure whether, if he told Jamal about how intensely attracted he was to her, Jamal would say he was crazy or just going through withdrawal from being away from Alex too long.
    â€œSo the only thing you can do is get back out there. Have some fun. Meet some women.”
    â€œOh, don’t worry about me, Jay.”
    I intend to get back out there soon . But for now his desire was intensely focused on one woman in particular and he planned to track her down.

Chapter 6
    â€œT hat’ll be $68.54, Miss Gibbons,” the young woman said as she turned away from the electronic screen over the cash register.
    Lauren